Recipe Flash: Sweet Potato Fries

Like any hungry New York Times reader, each Wednesday your Quarter-Life Cooks skip straight through the hard news to the Dining Section. Now while Mark Bittman may have bigger fish to fry, we figured we’d look the Wednesday foodies square in the face and establish our own weekly column. Because of the general Internet food overload, our Wednesday posts will cut straight to the heart of the matter—that is, the recipe.

Check back each week for a great new recipe that you can read, make, eat, and still have time leftover to plunge, if you must, back into the wordy depths of the Times.

Read on for our first Recipe Flash!

**Recipe**

Sweet Potato FriesMakes as many as you’d like!

This is an essential recipe, if you can call it a recipe. It makes, with the minimal effort of cutting and turning on an oven, delicious, crispy, and sweet french fries. Bake them for yourself with that one mini sweet potato growing limp on your counter (is that just me?), for a crowd to go along with a barbecue, a picnic (yes, they’re even good cold), or for any casual meal in need of more carbs.

Cut the sweet potatoes into fries: about 1/3″ by 4″. Toss with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet in one layer or as close to one layer as you can get. Bake for 1 hour, tossing occasionally with a heat-proof spatula. When the fries are browned, crispy, and soft in the inside remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt, and serve. Ketchup and honey mustard make excellent accompaniments.

At Gritty’s in Maine, they serve them with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and salt…. it makes a really yummy sweet-salty combination with a simple protein!

Treehouse Chef

I love sweet potatoe fries!!!

Jill

Great idea– Mark and his ketchup concoctions have nothing on you! can’t wait to try them. Any other vegetables you could suggest for this recipe?

Phoebe and Cara, the Quarter-Life Cooks

The salty-sweet combo sounds great, like Kettle Corn or something. What does Gritty’s serve with the fries for dipping?

As for other veggies: definitely regular potatoes. I sometimes use other root vegetables, like parsnips, carrots, or turnips, but no matter how much you roast those, they never get quite as crisp as starchier sweet potatoes.

Jessie

YUM. I love when places serve sweet potato fries with a sweet sauce… so honey mustard with extra honey mixed it sounds delicious!

alison

I love sweet potato fries! They’re the best dipped in a spicy-sweet plum sauce

Mickie

I like more savory sweet potato fries the best. Try them with garlic powder and chipotle chile powder sprinkled on them before baking. Yum! They’re also great dipped in home-made ranch dressing. It sounds really weird to some, but I promise you they’re really good!

Gtrachel

If by “weird” you mean DELICIOUS.

marcie @ flavor the moments

I make sweet potato fries often and I use plenty of spice! I like to add orange juice, a bit of maple syrup, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Ketchup is necessary, too!

About Cara

I cook accessible, creative food in my small city kitchen. Read all about my love for home cooking here »